Area: 84.232 sq.km.

Revenue Wards: 39
Electoral Wards: 55
Population: 
4,36,400(2001 Census)

General Information
      
Profile of Calicut Urban Area
The Regional Setting
The Geographical conditions of city area and peri urban areas are almost similar to the other
parts of the district falling within coastal and midland zones. The region comprising Kozhikode
Corporation and peri urban Blocks belong to the low and mid lands in the typical classification
of land in Kerala as low, mid and high lands. Lagoons and backwaters characterize the low land
which receives drainage from the rivers. The lowland is often subjected to salinity intrusion.
The coastal plains exhibit more or less flat, narrow terrain with landforms such as beach ridges,
sandbars, backwater marshes, etc. Few kilometers from the sea to the east, the surface
gathers into slopes and clustering hills with numerous valleys in between formed due to floods
and sediment transport. Midlands is represented by hummocky rocky terrain with lateritised
denudational hills and intervening valley fills (locally called as ELAS). The ‘Elas’ are fairly wide
in the lower reaches of midlands and narrow towards the upper parts of the midlands.

The rivers in the region are Kallai, Korapuzha, Chaliyar and Panurpuzha. The Kallai River has its
origin in Cherikkulathur village. It is connected with Chaliyar on the south by a man-made
canal. The river passes through Cherukulathur, Kovur, Olavanna, Manava and Kallai before
finally joining the sea near Calicut. The length of the river is 22km. The Korapuzha river is
formed by the confluence of the Agalapuzha with the Punnurpuzha, and it joins the sea at
Elathur. The Agalapuzha is more or less a backwater while the Punnurpuzha originates from
Arikkankunni. The total length of the river is 40 km. Panurpuzha is a tributary of Korapuzha. It
passes through the northern boundary of the study area and joins to the sea. The river is
perennial.

The Connolly Canal running across the heart of the city has a length of 11kms. The width of the
canal ranges from 6m to 20m in different stretches. The depth of water in the peak summer
varies from 0.5m to 2m. Connolly canal links the inland waterways from Kasaragod in the north
to Thiruvananthapuram in the south. The canal functions as a drain to reduce flood in the city
during the rainy season and also as a navigation channel.

The Costal area is about 1.2 m above sea level, whereas the eastern part of the city is at about
15 m above sea level. The city has long seashore of 15 km. Small hills dot the city terrain in
eastern and central portions. The Soil conditions are very good for cultivation of spices and
coconut especially and normal for other crops. Garden lands form major share of land used for
cultivation. In the city nearly 5500 Hectares of land is being used for cultivation and nearly 321
Hectares are waterlogged area.